NEW DELHI: The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking quashing of subsection (5) of Section 62 of the Representation of les’ Act which prevents prisoners from exercising their franchise, ‘The PUCL has also demanded that this be done as expeditiously as possible so that all the prisoners in the country’s jail are able to exercise their franchise by casting their votes in the forthcoming polls starting on April 27.
The petition said the existing statutes were self-contradictory. For ex ‘ample, though a convict, who faced a sentence of a period equal to or less than two years, could offer himself as ‘a candidate for elections in any of the nation’s elections, he was not allowed to vote.
The existing law was also termed as ‘discriminatory and biased” as detainees, who were being held for serious violations such as those under the provisions of the National Security ‘Act (NSA), still retained their right to vote. A provision for their voting was made in jails by the authorities concerned at the time of voting by postal ballot.
The PUCL, in their petition, argued that the existing law was also “anti-poor.” The PUCL counsel explained that for a prosperous person who had committed a bail able offence, arranging for bail and surety was no problem. Thus, he or she could easily bail out and be able to vote.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1996
